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The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread

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Old Oct 31, 2014, 6:05 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: lifeonthego_k
I'm going to update this first post as more info flows in to create a 'master list' of all credit cards that offer a decent way of accruing miles - so please help out!

If you know of and/or use any other cards (or the ones already mentioned), please share your thoughts.

***ALL VALUES BELOW IN SINGAPORE DOLLARS (SGD)***
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In no particular order (apart from personal preference in terms of good-mileage opportunities):
============

1. UOB PRVI Miles VISA, MasterCard, AMEX

VISA:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...iles_visa.html
MasterCard:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...astercard.html
Amex:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...amex_card.html
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...ard/microsite/



Mileage accrual:
The earn rate will be 1.4 miles for every $1 spent in multiples of S$10 (every multiple of S$5 gives 6 to 7 miles due to 3.5 UNI$ rounding off, every S$10 gives 14 miles), and 2.4 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS (every $5 gives 12 miles).

Requirements: min. income $80,000 (not strict).
Cost: First year free, then S$256.80 for main, first two supplementary always free. Annual fee waiver for Amex card if you charge $50,000 or more in a year.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion. UNI$ are combined in 1 cardholder's name/FIN Number/NRIC together for all UOB cards which earn UNI$.

Pros: Best mileage accrual rates for overseas spend only. 20,000 bonus miles and annual fee waiver with spend of $50,000 per year (both only for Amex card). $45 1-way airport transfer voucher for $1,000 overseas spend in a given quarter (Amex only).
Cons: AMEX not always accepted by merchants. Points allocated on every $5 spent, rounded down to next $5. Transfer in blocks of 5000 UNI$ points = 10,000 miles. Points are valid for 2 years (transfer before expiry and they will subsequently be valid for a further 3 years from the date of transfer to KrisFlyer).

2. UOB Preferred Platinum Visa


http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards..._platinum.html
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...visa_card.html


Mileage accrual: Earn 4 miles for every $1 spent using ONLY MOBILE CONTACTLESS every $5 gives 10 UNI$ which equal 20 miles). Same incredible mileage-earning ratio for internet shopping with certain restrictions (travel-related, utilities, etc.). Earn 0.4 mile for every $1 for regular, signature-based payments AND ORPHAN SPEND DUE TO $5 ROUNDING OR EXCEEDING THE BONUS U$2000 SPEND (every $5 gives 1 UNI$ which equal 2 miles).

Earning 4 miles/$ is limited to the first S$1110 spent during the per calendar month (via Mobile Contactless). 2,000UNI$ refers to the extra 9UNI$ and does not include the normal 1UNI$.(Stop when you notice you earn 3UNI$ (1 + bonus 2) for the last S$5 transaction. ($1110/5)x9=1998UNI$, hence the last S$5 transaction will earn 2 bonus UNI$. The total bonus UNI$ awarded to you from qualifying spend on Selected Online Transactions and Mobile Contactless Transactions is capped at UNI$2,000 for each calendar month. THE CAP IS ON THE 9 UNI$ BONUS NOT 10UNI$ TOTAL YOU GET WITH BASE OF U$1 PER $ SPEND

Keep in mind that some merchants offer different, non-mileage accruing awards with UOB cards which are called SMART$. Some popular merchants include Cold Storage, Guardian and Giant Supermarket, ToastBox and Starbucks. A full list of merchants where Mobile contactless transactions will NOT earn miles can be found here:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...smartclub.html

Requirements: min. income $30,000 ($60,000 for foreigners).
Cost: First year free, then $192.60 for main and $96.30 for supplementary. Annual fee waived off easily.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion, in blocks of 5000 UNI$=10,000 miles. UNI$ are combined in 1 cardholder's name for all UOB cards.

Pros: Incredible mileage accrual rates for Paywave transactions (not all merchants - some give SMART$ instead which are different rewards!) as well as internet transactions (some restrictions apply).
Cons: Points allocated on every $5 spent, rounded down to next $5. Transfer in blocks of 5000 UNI$ points = 10,000 miles. Points are valid for 2 years (transfer before expiry and they will subsequently be valid for a further 3 years from the date of transfer to KrisFlyer).

3. Citi PremierMiles MasterCard

https://www.citibank.com.sg/credit-cards/travel/premiermiles-card/?ecid=PSGONSGCCAENPM

Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 miles for every $1 spent. Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS. 10,000 bonus miles for each annual membership renewal.

Requirements: min. income $50,000 for VISA. Principal cardholder must be at least 21 years of age.
Cost: First year free, then $192.60 for VISA main, supplementary always free. Annual fee waiver available in exchange for forfeiting the 10,000renewal bonus.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion.

Pros: Decent all-rounder, good for overseas spend. Points never expire. Bonus miles for annual card renewal. 11 frequent flyer programs & 3 hotel programs to choose from, including EVA Air - only 25,000 miles for 1 way Business Class within Asia!!
Cons: No miles awarded for EZ-Link & Transitlink transactions. Miles awarded per S$1. Cents not included. 1.2 miles/S$1. Transfer in blocks of 10,000 miles.

4. DBS Altitude VISA/AMEX

http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx



Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 miles for every $1 spent (every $5 gives 3 DBS points which equal 6 miles). Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS.

Requirements: min. income $80,000.
Cost: First year free, then $180 for main and $90 for supplementary. Annual fee waiver if you charge $25,000 or more in a year.
Miles conversion fee: S$26.75 per transfer, redeem 1700 DBS points to waive off.

Pros: Points never expire. No rounding down transaction amount to nearest $5 (calculation is done as follows: DBS points = 'transaction amount' divided by 5, multiply by 3, after that round down to nearest whole number. Minimum spend is S$1.67. Each DBS point = 2 miles). Earn 3 miles per S$1 spent on all online Flight and Hotel transactions (capped at S$5,000 per month). 10,000 miles renewal bonus if you have to pay card renewal fees.
Cons: All local spend now down to 1.2 miles/$ (since Dec 1, 2013). AMEX not always accepted by merchants. Transfer in blocks of 5000 DBS points = 10,000 miles (on the plus side points don't expire). Per transfer of S$26.75, redeem 1700 DBS points to waive off.

5. Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa

http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/persona...visa-card.aspx



Earn 3.2 air miles (8X TREATS Points) with every dollar spent on dining, petrol, taxi fares and hotel bookings at Agoda.com/horizon
Earn 2 air miles (5X TREATS Points) with every dollar spent on air tickets, travel packages and foreign currency transactions, with a minimal S$300 in a calendar month

Earn 0.4 mile for every $1 spent elsewhere (1 mile for every $2.50 spent).

Requirements: min. income $30,000 ($80,000 for foreigners).
Cost: $150 for main, supplementary always free. Unsure of any annual fee waiver conditions.
Miles conversion fee: In blocks of 5,000 points to 2000 Asia Miles or KrisFlyer. S$26.75 fee applies.

Pros: Great for ticket purchases and overseas spend. Complimentary access to selected VIP airport lounges when you charge a minimum of S$400 in a single transaction on air tickets or travel packages to your Card 3 months prior to the date of travel.
Cons: Great ONLY for ticket purchases and overseas spend. Points are valid for 1 year only, expire either on 30 June or 31 December of the same year if not Rewards Infinite member.

6. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend AMEX

https://www.americanexpress.com/sg/s...nd-credit-card



Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 KrisFlyer miles for every S$1 spent on all your eligible purchases with your Card

Earn 2 KrisFlyer miles for every S$1 equivalent in foreign currency spent overseas on eligible purchases during June and December

Requirements: min. income $50,000 ($60,000 for foreigners). Principal cardholder must be over 21 years of age.
Cost: First year free, otherwise $256.80 for main, 2 supplementary cards always free (more available at $80.25 each). Annual fee cannot be waived unless you spend alot.
Miles conversion fee: None - your KrisFlyer miles are transferred to your account directly with no conversion fees or charges.

Pros: None, except for welcome offers (4 complimentary airport lounge access vouchers, one complimentary night with Millennium Hotels and Resorts).

Cons: Simply nothing special - there are better cards available for all types of purchases, including flight tickets, even with all of the bonuses above applied. AMEX not always accepted by merchants.

7. Citibank Rewards Card

http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credi...CACRENCCHOCALM



Earn 10X Rewards (10 Rewards Points or 4 Miles for every S$1 spent) when you shop for clothes, bags and shoes or at departmental stores or online shopping websites, including SingTel & M1 online bill payment!

Pros: Transfer to 11 FFPs & 3 Hotel programs in blocks of 25,000 points=10,000 miles; S$25 fee.

Cons: Points awarded per S$1 spend. Cents not included. Cannot combined Thank You Points across cards.

8. DBS Woman's World MasterCard® Card

http://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/cards...astercard-card



10X Rewards for Online Retail Purchases
T&C Here: https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resource...s_card_tnc.pdf

Pros: Men also can get this card!! DBS points are combined in 1 cardholder's name. No rounding down transaction amount to nearest $5 (calculation is done as follows: DBS points = 'transaction amount' divided by 5, multiply by 10, after that round down to nearest whole number. Minimum spend is S$1. Each DBS point = 2 miles).

Cons: DBS points are valid for 1 year based on card anniversary date. The additional 9X DBS Points for online retail spend in a calendar month will be awarded on the 16th of the next calendar month. If the above days are not working days, the Points will be awarded on the next working day. The additional 9X DBS Points are only applicable to the first S$2,000 online retail spend every calendar month.

9. OCBC Titanium Rewards Card

https://www.ocbc.com/personal-bankin...astercard.html

10x OCBC$ on your shopping Local & Overseas Shopping Transactions, Local & Overseas Department Store Transactions and Local & Overseas Online Transactions.
The remaining 9 OCBC$ will be posted to the Card Account by the end of the next calendar month

https://www.ocbc.com/assets/pdf/card...ons.pdf?rand=1
10,000 KrisFlyer miles requires OCBC$ 25000, For each conversion of OCBC$ to KrisFlyer miles a fee of S$25 will be charged

10. UOB Lady's Card
https://www.uob.com.sg/personal/card...ard/index.page

============

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The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread

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Old Jan 21, 2016, 11:12 am
  #5056  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SIN
Posts: 352
Alternate is to load up Imagine and use it to topup ezlink.

by way of introduction - hello ! Hopefully will not just be lurking around since past so many years, instead - will post too!
ExSin is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2016, 7:41 pm
  #5057  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Living in SIN™
Programs: TK/QR Gold, Marriott/Accor Plat, IC Dia Amb, Avis/Hertz PC
Posts: 6,706
Quick Singapore-specific question for you folks cause reading the HWZ forums is driving me nuts.

I'm going to make a S$ 7K cash topup to the CPF Special Account for a number of reasons. Has anyone figured out a way to earn miles for the topup?

As far as I can tell:
  • CPF e-cashier doesn't take credit cards.
  • AXS e-station doesn't offer CPF topups, so you have to go to a physical AXS machine to do this, which only accepts ATM card payments.

Am I missing anything?
Savage25 is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2016, 8:17 pm
  #5058  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ Krisflyer, Hilton Gold, Best Western Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 155
Originally Posted by TTOTY
anyone knows which card still award points for EZ reload?

have been using ANZ for years and now they want to discontinue it

U can still use Maybank horizon card.

miles per dollar is 0.4

pretty sh** but still better than nothing.
kt85 is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2016, 9:20 pm
  #5059  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
Seems like DBS rewards points system cannot have negative balance.

I had 7 points yesterday and a refund of S$16.25 was posted today, should deduct 9 points. But my points balance today is 0.
vsepr is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 3:21 am
  #5060  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 1,799
Would someone be able to remind me when are the miles credited for UOB priv and UOB PPV cards? I'm seeing some rather weird amounts...
Awesom Andy is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 7:20 pm
  #5061  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 10
Originally Posted by Rockmellon
Vsepr, I paid my Singtel bills using DBS woman's card in e-AXS in first week of Jan, and so far did not receive any points at all (not even 1X pt). I tried both Masterpass and keying in Mastercard CC # directly, and both didn't give any points. Not sure if this is still working at all? Have you tried any new payments recently?
Yeah same here. Not even a single point awarded and I also tried both Masterpass and direct MasterCard option on AXS. I'm trying MySam, but i doubt that awards points too.
leodrio is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 11:43 pm
  #5062  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 147
When I bought my air tickets (airfrance) via Expedia for the citibank promo, the airline themselves billed me for the transaction. Thus I did not get the points. Anyone else had this problem?
waver99 is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 7:45 am
  #5063  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SIN
Posts: 352
Originally Posted by leodrio
Yeah same here. Not even a single point awarded and I also tried both Masterpass and direct MasterCard option on AXS. I'm trying MySam, but i doubt that awards points too.

I too noticed points missing and asked on detailed breakdown - DBS rep yet to revert. Had done a few MasterPass transactions.
ExSin is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 7:46 am
  #5064  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SIN
Posts: 352
Originally Posted by waver99
When I bought my air tickets (airfrance) via Expedia for the citibank promo, the airline themselves billed me for the transaction. Thus I did not get the points. Anyone else had this problem?

Could you pls clarify what happened - ?

I just purchased Expedia tickets eligible airline - and did not get OTP. TX posted after 2 days. Will I be in same soup?
ExSin is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 9:53 am
  #5065  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
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Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
Originally Posted by waver99
When I bought my air tickets (airfrance) via Expedia for the citibank promo, the airline themselves billed me for the transaction. Thus I did not get the points. Anyone else had this problem?
No, because I have only bought tickets on carriers that don't participate anyhow (AA/UA/BA/EK/QF/LH/LX)
I did have one AY ticket that posted as XP
AA_EXP09 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 5:33 am
  #5066  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 55
HSBC Revo for ez link top up

Originally Posted by kt85
U can still use Maybank horizon card.

miles per dollar is 0.4

pretty sh** but still better than nothing.
What about the HSBC revo card? Thought it give bonus pts for ez link atu?
Tyrhung is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 2:31 pm
  #5067  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
Originally Posted by waver99
When I bought my air tickets (airfrance) via Expedia for the citibank promo, the airline themselves billed me for the transaction. Thus I did not get the points. Anyone else had this problem?
I had a similar problem with AI. Seems airline-ticketed (as opposed to XP-ticketed) flights cause some tracking problem for Citibank that needs to be managed manually. Give Citiphone a call and email to them the relevant XP booking correspondences, and they would investigate and post the missing bonus usually in a couple of days.
carrotjuice is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 7:21 pm
  #5068  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
Originally Posted by Tyrhung
What about the HSBC revo card? Thought it give bonus pts for ez link atu?
With effect from 1 November 2015, for Online Transactions which involve EZ-Link or Transitlink, 5x Rewards points are capped at 1,000 HSBC Rewards points per Account per calendar month (i.e. S$200 spend).

http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/personal/...and-conditions

I prefer to use 3.5x UOB PRVI AMEX because the points can combine with the 10x points earned from UOB PPV.
vsepr is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 7:49 pm
  #5069  
formerly Fly-Swiss
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 878
Originally Posted by vsepr
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...amex_card.html

UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card only.

VISA & MasterCard versions does not award UNI$ for EZ-Link/Transitlink transactions.
do you mean that DBS Altitude doesn't give any miles on Ezreload as well?
thanks.
Volasia is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 7:56 pm
  #5070  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
Originally Posted by Fly-Swiss
do you mean that DBS Altitude doesn't give any miles on Ezreload as well?
thanks.
DBS Altitude still have. 3x points. $0.25 rebate for VISA.

http://ezlink.com.sg/ez-reload-auto-top-up#feerebate
vsepr is offline  


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